Journey to Rainbow Island

by Christie Hsiao

  Percy sighed happily and looked at Yu-ning. “What do we do now, Yu-ning?” he asked.

  “Let’s go outside and see if we can find Suparna,” Yu-ning said excitedly.

  The children all began to cheer, and Sensei nodded. “Good idea. We could all use some fresh air.”

  They exited the classroom, talking and laughing happily. The entire school had gathered, almost every person either having seen Yu-ning’s visit and the appearance of the “rainbow bird,” or heard about it from someone who had. Once out of the positive energy of the classroom, however, it was as if each person had been programmed to walk the halls with fear and trepidation. Yu-ning tried to lighten the mood. “It’s all right, everyone. You don’t need to stay in this school if you don’t want to. You have choices, and you can come outside where the air is fresh and the sun is warm. Don’t worry!”

  As they continued quietly down the hall, Percy pointed to a dark room. “All the teachers are gathered in a meeting in there. This is where they discuss how to enforce the rules and create different forms of punishment,” Percy continued, with panic in his eyes.

  “We better hurry and get out of here,” a five-year-old boy said.

  A senior student holding the boy’s hand added, “Yeah, let’s just go. Don’t go in there, Yu-ning.”

  Another older girl spoke up and said, “I think we need to confront the headmistress about—well, you all know.”

  “What do you mean, Ariadne?” asked the girl who was holding the boy’s hand.

  “My sister, Anne. And Caspar. All the other orphans who have . . . disappeared!” When Ariadne said this, the children all became very quiet. It was obvious this was a taboo subject that few ever spoke of.

  The five-year-old boy said, “But Headmistress says those kids all went off to a better school.”

  “Don’t believe everything she says,” added Ariadne.

  “Ariadne!” Yu-ning said. “It was your sister, Anne, who sent me here! I have just come from seeing her. She has been working in a factory far to the north—but she is free now. She is on Rainbow Island, my home!”

  “You’ve seen my sister?” said Ariadne, hardly believing her ears. “Is she all right? Is she safe? I haven’t seen her in more than three years.” Ariadne was overcome with emotion, and sought comfort in the arms of one of her fellow students.

  “This is the reason I am here, everyone—to take away those of you who want to go, who want to leave this school. I have seen enough to convince me that many of you are here against your will. Is that true?” There were nods and whispers of agreement from most of the students. “For those of you who do not wish to leave, you may stay. The choice is yours. But for those who wish to leave, you can come back to Rainbow Island, and attend a school that will never treat you with hatred or abuse.”

  “But some of us aren’t orphans,” said Percy. “Our parents won’t know where we went, and we will miss them.”

  “Percy, once you are on Rainbow Island, we can tell your mother where you are now. She will be able to visit you any chance she can, or even come live on our Island if she wishes.”

  Yu-ning turned to Genju Sensei and said, “There is something I must do, Sensei. I must confront your headmistress about the children she sold into slavery—the children who had to go away to Darqendia Island.”

  “I had no idea, Yu-ning, that the children were sent away like that,” insisted Sensei. “Whenever a child went away, Headmistress always told the faculty that it was to another school, on Gracia Island . . . But sold into slavery?” Sensei began to cry, realizing that those poor children had been suffering in sweatshops all these years.

  Yu-ning turned toward the door of the conference room and placed her hand on the knob. She heard One’s voice in her head, saying, “Speak your truth. Tell these teachers the truth.” Yu-ning nodded quietly to herself. She looked at the whole group of people very gravely and said, “No, I can’t leave yet—I need to explain to them why we are leaving. I need to tell them about the missing children.”

  A twelve-year-old girl spoke up. “But we are only kids, and they will not listen. They think they are always right.”

  Yu-ning shook her head. “Don’t worry. We need to tell the truth. There are more of us, and they cannot control us any longer. They cannot do anything to us.”

  Sensei said, “Yes, you must tell them just what you have told me, Yu-ning. You must speak from your heart. I have lived in fear all my life until this moment. All that stops now.”

  Sensei came forward and whispered into Yu-ning’s ear. Yu-ning slowly nodded her head in agreement. Sensei turned and walked briskly down the hallway toward the main offices.

  “All right,” Yu-ning said. “Let’s go.” Yu-ning lifted her small hand to knock on the door. She paused briefly before she tapped the door three times.

  “Enter!” a stern voice boomed.

  Twenty-One

  Confrontation

  YU-NING SLOWLY TURNED the knob and opened the door. The room was dimly lit. She stood at the door and saw the headmistress and eleven teachers seated around a large conference table. Yu-ning and Percy stepped inside and stood close to the doorway.

  “Why are you children in here? You’re not supposed to be in here,” a man snapped.

  In a gravelly voice the headmistress said, “You are not allowed in here; how dare you disturb us.” There was palpable anger and hostility in the room.

  Percy and two other students approached. Percy said, “We are done with rules that only hold us down and make us feel ashamed of our true talents. We don’t want to learn in this way any longer.”

  This defiant declaration, spoken in front of her staff, made the headmistress stand and say in a loud voice, “I have had enough of this insolence. This goes beyond a mere disciplinary problem, and I have given you several opportunities, Percival, to right your ship. If you do not return to your classroom at once, I will consider expulsion. And no other school will accept you without letters of recommendation and your grade cards. There are always more students. This is an exclusive academy, and thousands apply every year for only 260 slots. I will mark your transcripts with F’s! You will all be janitors! Go!”

  Yu-ning looked confused and asked, “I don’t understand. Janitors? If they are happy doing their work, then why judge that labor? Janitors work to feed their families. Why wouldn’t you respect that work? And you may think this is an exclusive academy and among the best in the world, but you have an entire student body that is miserable. The seniors have spent thirteen wretched years here. How do you find success in unhappiness? Rules aren’t always right. Yours have locked down this school and created a prison. You have closed down the hearts and minds of everyone in here, including yourselves. Look at you all. Look at this dark room. Look at your severe expressions and hard faces. You are not happy. How was this working? If one is miserable, how is she successful? Why not try something different?”

  “What do you kids want?” said an older male teacher, ignoring Yu-ning’s question. “We are in the middle of a meeting. Go back to class, or you will all receive detention and extra assignments for this disobedience!”

  “We are gathered here to tell you the truth about your school,” Yu-ning said straightforwardly. “My name is Yu-ning, and yes, I am just a little girl. But I am also free, and I know how important freedom is to a child. I am here to tell all of you that your headmistress is not what she says she is. Do you know what really happened to all those children—the orphans—who have been transferred to other schools?”

  The teachers were silent, and all looked at the headmistress, who was seething with anger. A male teacher spoke up. “What are you talking about, young lady? We have many students who come and go, and some who transfer to other schools. There is nothing unusual about that.”

  “Is there nothing unusual about a headmistress who lies to children, tells them they are going to another school, a better school where they will get special attention, only to take them in the night
and sell them as child laborers?”

  “You are way out of line, miss! Our headmistress would never do such a terrible thing,” responded Mayeda Sensei, one of the older women teachers. The headmistress just stood there, saying nothing.

  “Ask her yourself, then, where all those children went—Anne, Caspar, and all the others. Isn’t it interesting how all the children who were ‘transferred’ were orphans?” Yu-ning said, with growing emotion. “If they were transferred, then why don’t we go visit them? My friend Suparna can take us there right now, Headmistress. Gracia Island is just a short flight from here. And I know the Grey City quite well—we could help you find the school.”

  The headmistress finally spoke, saying, “Of course, these allegations are outrageous and unfounded. I will not stand here and be accused by an insolent young girl who doesn’t know her place. I am going to find the school guard, and then we will see what happens to disrespectful little girls who lie about their superiors!”

  “Do you deny it then, Sensei?” asked Yu-ning. “Do you deny selling the orphans?”

  With that, the headmistress stormed out of the room and strode down the long corridor. Yu-ning, the teachers, and the students watched her leave, and Yu-ning walked out of the room, moving down the hallway after her. The headmistress removed a key from her pocket, opened an office door, walked inside, and locked the door behind her. Yu-ning arrived just in time to see her grab her satchel and leave through the back door of her office.

  Percy was at Yu-ning’s shoulder. “She’s getting away, Yu-ning! What should we do?”

  Yu-ning just smiled at Percy and said, “It’s all right, Percy, justice always finds its way. Come, follow me.”

  Yu-ning threw open the large double doors of the school, followed by the children and even the teachers. She walked around the side of the school and then toward the back of the building. As she turned the corner, she stopped, and waited for all the children and teachers to join her. There in the center of a courtyard behind the school was Suparna, hovering ten feet off the ground. Below him the guard was holding the headmistress’s arm, and Genju Sensei was standing by.

  The disgraced headmistress had the look of a trapped wild animal. “You don’t know what it takes to run a prestigious school like this!” she screamed. “It costs more money than you can imagine, and donations and tuition never cover all the costs. This school has been here for 211 years—who is going to miss a few orphans? They all found gainful employment—the best future for them anyway.”

  The teachers—and even the children—were stunned. Though their leader had always been a severe, mirthless woman, no one imagined she was capable of such shameful acts. The oldest teacher among them, Mayeda Sensei, was a distinguished teacher who had been at the school for thirty-four years and had served as the head of the faculty board. She broke from the silent crowd and approached the headmistress.

  Though Yu-ning could not hear what Mayeda Sensei said, it caused the headmistress to hang her head in shame. Mayeda Sensei turned back toward Yu-ning and the rest of the children and teachers and said in a commanding voice, “This is a shocking turn of events. Remain calm, children, until your teachers and I can decide on a course of action. In the meantime, you are dismissed for lunch—but do not wander far. We will gather here again in half an hour!”

  Mayeda Sensei turned to the guard and said, “Take her to the magistrate and turn her over to him. Let the courts deal with her now.” She walked over to Yu-ning and said, “How did the guard and your friend Suparna know to apprehend her? She owns a boat just down the path there, which leads to the school’s private dock,” she added, pointing down a hill that led to the beach. “She was probably headed there to make an escape.”

  “That was Genju Sensei’s idea—to alert the guard and Suparna,” said Yu-ning. “She thought the headmistress might try to escape.”

  Mayeda Sensei approached the teacher and said, “You have done a wonderful thing for these children today, Genju Sensei. You have a promising future at this school and in how we rebuild the curriculum and our entire approach to learning. If that is what you desire.”

  “Thank you, Mayeda Sensei. You honor me. I think I must go, however, and begin a new life on Rainbow Island. As you know, I have always had a heart for our orphans, and those children returning from the factory are going to need special attention. I will miss you, though, as you have always been kind and helpful toward me.” Genju Sensei bowed deeply before the school’s new headmistress and walked back to Yu-ning, who was laughing and playing with Percy and Ariadne.

  The teachers were amazed at the sight of Suparna—they had never seen such a beautiful creature, particularly one who talked! The children laughed and played on the beautiful grounds of the school, typically marked “out of bounds” for the students.

  As the students continued to celebrate, Genju Sensei, Mayeda Sensei, and Suparna met with the rest of the teachers in the courtyard to discuss what would come next. After the lunch period ended, all the students gathered in the outdoor courtyard. It was completely quiet as Mayeda Sensei rose to address the crowd. “From this day forward, this school will change its ways—it will change the way it teaches, what it teaches, and it will be run by an elected group of teachers who will take turns sitting in the headmaster’s chair. No more secrecy, and no more dictatorships!” With this, the children broke out in wild screams and applause, and even some of the teachers were clapping.

  She announced that the students would need to seek their parents’ permission if they wanted to leave the boarding school for Rainbow Island. However, all orphans wanting to go should be allowed to do so. As the news spread, the children became animated, inquiring of one another as to who was staying and who would be making the journey to Rainbow Island.

  Percy would stay and wait to ask his mother whether or not they both wanted to come to Rainbow Island. He said to Yu-ning, “Her life is so hard, Yu-ning, and she deserves a new life. I so want to give that to her!”

  Yu-ning hugged her new friend and said, “Soon enough, Percy, you will be with us on Rainbow Island. In the meantime, be well, and remember that you have the light in your heart!”

  Of the 260 children at the school, thirty-three were orphans—and twenty-eight of them decided they wanted to return with Suparna to Rainbow Island. Yu-ning and Suparna promised all the children who were remaining at the school that they could come visit any time they wished.

  Soon it was time for Yu-ning to return to Minkaro, who would be getting worried about her now that the afternoon shadows were growing long on the grounds of the school. She said her goodbyes to her new friends and climbed onto Suparna’s back for the short flight to the cove where she had left Minkaro that morning.

  “You have done very well indeed, Yu-ning,” said Suparna, as she climbed atop his neck. “I am very proud of you.”

  “Thank you, Suparna,” said Yu-ning. “I only wish that you could take me to Farcara Island. It is a long journey, and I will miss you. I will miss Metatron.” The majestic bird took wing as the children and teachers waved goodbye from the grounds of the school below.

  “How I wish these wings of mine could fly that far south, Yu-ning,” Suparna said. “But I am built for milder climes, I am afraid. Minkaro is a noble king, Yu-ning, and you are in good hands with him. He will do everything within his power to protect you, and will make sure that you arrive safely on Farcara.”

  Yu-ning could see the small cove in the distance and Minkaro’s large pink form waiting in the water near the shore. They landed on the gravelly sand, and Minkaro greeted them both. “Minkaro, I trust that you will be taking the eastern route across the north end of Gracia and then turning due south, straight for Farcara, yes?” said Suparna.

  “That is the plan, Suparna. With any luck we will be there in four days,” said Minkaro. Yu-ning hugged Suparna and climbed on to Minkaro’s back, securing the harness. Suparna remained on the beach until the dolphin and girl cleared the cove and headed into deep water. Th
en he returned to the school to arrange for the transportation of the twenty-eight orphans, plus their instructor, Genju Sensei, who had decided to go with them to Rainbow Island.

  The remaining teachers decided to stay, as many had families on Malinga Island. As well, they all wanted to be a part of reforming the school and beginning anew with the remaining students. After a good night’s sleep and a quick early-morning farewell on the lawn of the school, Suparna was ready to leave. Ariadne took the first position directly behind his head, while the other children spread out across his back, secured by harnesses that the teachers helped to secure. All the teachers and students gathered on the lawn to say goodbye to their friends. It was a joyous sight.

  As Suparna headed north again toward Rainbow Island, the winds were at his back, and he made excellent time. By the same time the following morning, Rainbow Island was within sight. The children, who had been snuggled down, sleeping under Suparna’s soft feathers during the night, became excited and started laughing and pointing toward the beautiful green island in the distance.

  Pristine, azure blue waters surrounded Rainbow Island’s lush green mountains, trees, grasslands, and flower-laden fields. And although the rainbow was gone from the Island, it was still a beautiful, magical place. Suparna was happy to be back. Faster and faster they descended, and as they neared Rainbow Meadow, they could see all the teachers and children running from houses and exiting the school, coming to greet Suparna and the orphans. “This is your new home now,” said Suparna to the orphans. “You will always be a part of our community, and you will be able to create and imagine as never before.”